The FindaGrave page for Ann Erinton in the “Old Burying Ground” in Cambridge, Massachusetts, indicates that her stone is the oldest one in the cemetery. It is old compared to most stones I’ve encountered in my research. Ann died on 25 December 1653 according to her tombstone and I’m assuming that it was erected relatively soon after her death. Ann is an ancestress of mine with a litany of “greats” in front of “grandmother.”
It got me to wondering what’s the “oldest” stone on FindaGrave? It’s not necessarily an easy question. Dating such a stone is somewhat problematic as stones can be erected decades after the person is buried. And I’m not really interested in stones for royalty or other notables…rather a “normal” person, if there is such a thing. Non-normal people have had some sort of tombstones long before normal people tended to have them.
Any thoughts?
One response
For some New England graveyards, there are markers erected centuries after the person’s death, in a location where they are not known to have been buried.
Memorials may also be erected elsewhere by family associations, a century or more after the supposed death, also in a location where the persons may not actually have been interred.
The well-known problem of mistaken purported inscriptions in findagrave.com entries is not the only factor that researchers should question.